Admissions

LREI seeks to enroll students who are bright, curious, motivated and who show strong academic promise. The School is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of the wider community by enrolling students from diverse religious, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds and gender identities. Creating this diverse student body fosters opportunities for deeper cultural learning and understanding.

We Are LREI

Welcome to LREI. We are now, as we have always been, guided by our school's mission. As a truly progressive school community, we never shy away from the challenges and the possibilities of change and growth. It is this bold, experimental, progressive vision of education that continues to inspire and guide the LREI community today. What we did yesterday, what we are doing today, and what we will do tomorrow are all a part of a coherent 14-year experience inspired by our mission.

Academics

Since its founding, the LREI experience has been grounded in progressive principles that shape the design of program in each of our divisions. These principles place students at the center of their learning experiences, call on us to narrow the distance between the world around students and their school experiences, and engage learners in authentic problem solving on a daily basis. Our mission driven approach informs all aspects of our 14-year experience.

Life @ LREI

Our founding ideals of learning that is grounded in experience, inquiry, collaboration, growth and active democratic citizenship inform every aspect of daily life at LREI. LREI truly is a community of learners; it is a place where students, faculty and families come together each day in the spirit of creativity, collaboration and consequence.

Our Community

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. We embody a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

Annual Lower School Art Show: 2/22-2/23

To view our official gallery of the 2018 Lower School Art Show, please click HERE.

The Lower School Art Show is a time for children to share with the wider LREI community the results of dynamic experiences they've had with materials in art, shop and early childhood classrooms.

By using their fingers and hands, children shape materials to express their thinking. They feel the textures of collage fabrics, the “gooeyness” of paper maché, the plasticity of clay and the resistance of wood. Getting an idea, using one's imagination, problem solving, flexibility when faced with a "mistake" and delight when something comes out exactly the way one wants it are integral to the art process.

The paintings, collages, drawings, 3-d paper mâché sculptures and puppets, wooden chests and wooden spoons, animals and flora of Manahatta in paper mâché and models of early 20th century immigrants living on the Lower East Side created by the Fours to the Fourth Grade exhibited in the Lower School Art Show reflect our belief that art making for children is a visual expression of their thinking and feeling. The artworks are both individual and collaborative. Labels describing the works are written or dictated by the children. Questions that motivate the artworks are included.

During the Lower School Art Show, children come in class or buddy groups to look at and discuss the artworks. "Museum Guides" will speak about a class exhibit and answer questions. At the end of the visit one class may sit down and respond to the other class's work or talk about what they noticed in the art show.

At each age the artworks the children create express their unique visual response to their world. The Lower School Art Show celebrates this.

We invite everyone to come and enjoy the Lower School Art Show.

P.S. Each time your child brings home art from school you have the opportunity to enjoy your own child’s art show. How you talk with your child about their work can impact the experience for both of you. For ideas about how to initiate conversation about your child's artwork, download, "How to Talk With Children About Their Art Work."